Chapter 269

Xiang Jianxing and the others had been guarding the entrance to the observation station, watching Wu Chang, hoping to see something.

But the darkness of Night Island was different from ordinary darkness—it didn't just swallow light, it severely restricted the perception of anyone on the island.

Xiang Jianxing, the most perceptive among them, could see no more than ten meters; even with sensory-enhancing skills, he could barely make out thirty meters—anything farther was beyond his reach.

This forced them to merely watch the clock, anxiously monitoring Wu Chang's signal.

Seven minutes passed in a flash; the group began to grow restless—even Director Gao, fully prepared and immersed in the darkness, could only last this long.

Just as Director Gao was about to step out and search for Wu Chang, they spotted him approaching the observation station at the edge of their vision.

They had intended to ask Wu Chang how he was, whether he was injured—but when they saw Fujita Hiroyuki dragging behind him, the questions died in their throats.

The outcome was obvious.

When Wu Chang entered the room, Director Gao glanced in surprise at the body on the floor and asked, "What is this?"

Wu Chang said, "He's the monster hiding in the darkness. Judging by his appearance, he's a transformed member of the expedition team. He was highly cautious—when he realized he'd been tricked, he tried to flee, so I had to act to stop him."

Lei Huo crouched beside the body, examining it, and asked, "Psychic energy?"

Wu Chang nodded. "Yes. His psyche was ravaged by something in the ruins—I shattered him with a simple psychic shock."

Xiang Jianxing nodded to the group, confirming Wu Chang's words weren't lies. This wasn't a deliberate lie-detection test—just a precaution. They feared the monster might have hijacked or possessed Wu Chang, trying to infiltrate them.

If they detected anything abnormal, they could subdue the monster and force it to reveal Wu Chang's whereabouts.

Xiang Jianxing confirmed Wu Chang was telling the truth. Logically, they should've been relieved—but in reality, the truth only left them speechless.

Night Island was at least an A-rank instance on the verge of losing control. Even if it were weak, its monsters shouldn't be so easily dispatched.

Wu Chang's growth rate exceeded their expectations. Had they heard of this from forums or others without witnessing it firsthand, they'd have dismissed it as a stupid joke.

Could he really be a genius?

He might not rival the prodigy Ping He, nor even Xiang Jianxing, who ranked just below him—but within the Administration, such rapid advancement deserved the title of genius without question.

Wu Chang feigned not noticing the increasingly strange glances from Director Gao and the others. He pulled out the key to the underwater ruins and said:

"I accidentally killed that monster, but luckily, I found this on him."

He held up the key and asked Johnson and Pei Taiheng, who had come out at the noise, "Is this the key to the underwater ruins?"

"That's it!" Johnson shouted, then turned and slapped Pei Taiheng on the shoulder, whispering, "Actually, Russian pickled cucumbers go pretty well with rice. You should try them."

Wu Chang ignored Pei Taiheng, whose face was ashen, as if he'd lost all hope in life, and turned to the group.

"We now have two Night Lamps. We must leave one behind as backup—only one person can go down with me. Anyone want to see the mysterious underwater ruins?"

After brief deliberation, Director Gao and the others chose Xiang Jianxing and Wu Chang to go together.

Ten minutes later, with help from Pei Taiheng and Johnson, Xiang Jianxing donned his diving suit, gripped a Night Lamp, and arrived at the underground pool.

Director Gao looked at the two and said, "Proceed with caution."

Wu Chang smiled. "Of course. I'm a survival-type player."

As Wu Chang and Xiang Jianxing dove into the water, Director Gao on the shore said, "Do you think they'll succeed?"

Lei Huo replied confidently, "Of course."

Director Gao was surprised. "You have that much faith in them?"

Lei Huo said, "I heard that before joining the Administration, he alone, with just one active skill and one passive skill, survived multiple dungeons and even obtained the Ocean's Favor transformation by exploiting the storyline in Quiet Town."

"He might've been born to clear dungeons. His methods are unconventional, bold, and wildly efficient. When it comes to clearing dungeons, I trust him more than I trust myself."

Director Gao stared at the water's surface, silent for a moment, then said, "I agree. Whether it was the recent Corruption dungeon or this one, his clearance speed is unbelievable."

"If he could just slow down, focus not just on clearing but also on completion rate—like 'Ping He'—his potential would be limitless."

Lei Huo sensed Director Gao's thoughts and asked, "What are you getting at?"

Director Gao sighed. "This World Dungeon is clearly different from all previous ones. Haven't you heard the rumor? Players at level thirty who survive this World Dungeon have a high chance of advancing to the Abyss Layer Two."

"Last night, the Administration sent me a form to fill out for an Acting Director. That rumor's almost certainly true."

Lei Huo smirked. "Stop testing me. It's real."

Director Gao corrected him. "I'm not testing you—I'm asking for confirmation."

"Either way, whether we live or die, we'll need to swap positions. Wanghai City can't be left unguarded. I need someone reliable."

Lei Huo asked, "You're thinking of him."

Director Gao said, "Let's wait and see. I hope he enters the World Dungeon too—gains more benefits, so he can hold the position firmly."

Underwater, as the key turned, the iron gate at the seabed opened. Wu Chang and Xiang Jianxing passed through and descended deeper into the ruins.

For Xiang Jianxing, the underwater environment was even more unsettling than Night Island.

Without any water-affinity skills, being submerged in seawater gave him a crushing sense of sluggishness, as if his body no longer obeyed him.

The deep-sea darkness was even more extreme than Night Island's. With only his headlamp and Night Lamp, he could barely see what lay directly ahead—like an NPC in a game with a narrow cone of visibility.

Anything beyond the glow of his lamps was completely imperceptible.

Unable to see his surroundings, unable to control his own body, and overwhelmed by pressure from all directions, he kept imagining that what waited below wasn't a ruin—but the gaping mouth of some colossal sea creature.

It was making him suffer from deep-sea phobia.

Just as he tensed, his Sword Heart stirred—he sensed an anomaly in the water currents, as if something was swimming toward them.

He turned his head toward the source of the disturbance, shining his headlamp in a cone of light—but the beam revealed nothing.

The next instant, the water disturbance came from behind him.

He swung his lamp again—this time, he caught a fleeting shadow.

The shadow was enormous and incredibly swift. The moment he registered it, Xiang Jianxing's mind snapped taut. Through his earpiece, he whispered to Wu Chang:

"Watch out—there's a monster in the water!"

Only then did he remember: Wu Chang wasn't wearing a diving suit. His earpiece was stored in his inventory—he couldn't hear a thing.

They couldn't communicate. Only he had detected the sea monster.

Xiang Jianxing gripped his flying sword tightly—but due to some mysterious underwater force, his flying sword couldn't function. He could only wield it by hand and unleash sword techniques at close range.

This meant he could not launch an offensive—he had to wait for whatever was in the water to strike first before he could counterattack.

A ripple came from the diagonal side; Xiang Jianxing spun around instantly, and this time he didn't just see the shadow—he saw thick tentacles, each ending in a segment five to four meters long.

He sensed danger from the tentacles; the monster was strong, nothing like the creatures Wu Chang had encountered—fragile, crumbling at the slightest touch.

Compared to the previous two times, this ripple originated much closer—the thing was probing them, inching nearer. Could they win?

Just as tension mounted, he sensed another abnormal fluctuation—this one came from above, dangerously near.

He looked up. Nothing was there.

The next instant, alarms blared in his mind—a powerful death threat surged up from below.

Shit, we've been tricked!

The monster deliberately stirred the water to deceive him, making him rely on ripples to track its position, then exploited that habit to distract him and strike at the opening he left exposed.

He looked down and saw a massive blob of slime, covered in tentacles, already within five meters of him—swift, silent, about to swallow him whole.

The giant slime blob flew off like an electric scooter hit by a speeding truck; Xiang Jianxing swung his headlamp toward where it had been flung, trying to see what had taken it.

When he saw a creature over a hundred meters long, thick and serpentine like a dragon, his mind went momentarily blank.

What the hell is that?!

Near Xiang Jianxing, Wu Chang, transformed into the Abyssal Giant Snake, coiled his body around the slime-tentacle monster, tightening relentlessly.

Since before he entered the water, he had targeted the slime-tentacle monster—more precisely, the High Priest.

Talent Skill: Abyssal Depths

!

Skill Description: Release energy to transform surrounding air or water into Abyssal Devouring, constructing a domain of your own—Abyssal Depths. Any prey entering Abyssal Depths will unknowingly become food for the Abyssal Giant Snake.

Xiang Jianxing had felt unable to perceive anything beyond the light not only because of the faint divinity in this water, but because a layer of Abyssal Depths domain had been draped over it.

The influence of the Abyssal Depths domain surpassed even the original power of this water.

Wu Chang had worried his power might be too obvious, scaring off the High Priest—but the monster-form of the High Priest was so desperate for energy that he couldn't resist the bait and walked straight into Wu Chang's trap.

Within the Abyssal Depths domain, the High Priest's body was soaked in Abyssal Devouring, utterly unable to resist.

Each time Wu Chang tightened his body, his scales acted like saw blades, shearing off huge chunks of the slime.

In less than a minute, he crushed the High Priest's body and extracted the white seashell from within.

Wu Chang gazed at the shattered remains of the High Priest and shook his head slightly—he was different from other players; the ocean was his domain.

With the High Priest dealt with, the path ahead was unobstructed; the two descended effortlessly into the ruins.

Passing through the gates of the Death Temple and entering the ruins, they felt as if they had stepped into another world.

Not a single drop of seawater seeped into the ruins—as if this place existed in an isolated space.

Inside the temple, Xiang Jianxing removed his fully sealed diving helmet and gasped for breath, waiting for his body to recover. He asked: "How did you do that just now?"

Wu Chang shrugged. "That's my Ocean Kin transformation—Sea Serpent."

Xiang Jianxing stared at Wu Chang with the expression of a subway elder, "You call that thing a Sea Serpent? Are you messing with me because I've never seen a Sea Serpent?"

Wu Chang added: "Have you seen Digimon? My previous Ocean Kin form was juvenile—now it's just evolved into its complete form. If you like, you can call it Sea Wyrm."

Xiang Jianxing rubbed his temples. He began doubting the Sword Heart's ability to discern truth—why did Wu Chang's words sound so absurd, yet ring so true in his ears?

Either he or Wu Chang had a problem—if neither did, then the world itself was broken!

Wu Chang didn't give Xiang Jianxing much time; with the Sword Heart skill active, Xiang Jianxing would convince himself anyway.

He called out to Xiang Jianxing, then picked up the white seashell and strode quickly into the ruins.

Having seen Tian Hongzhi's resentment, he knew the ruins' layout better than his own hand—he pretended to examine two murals at first, then simply followed his intuition and happened upon a sealed chamber.

After all, everything he said was true—Xiang Jianxing would convince himself.

The chamber door bore a recess; when he inserted the white seashell, the door sank into the ground, revealing the chamber behind.

Inside the chamber lay a black stone tablet—but unlike Wu Chang's expectation, the prophetic tablet recording the method to survive the apocalypse had already shattered.

The instant the broken tablet appeared, the entire Night Island region cracked apart—but instead of ending the instance, the crack brought time to a standstill.

From Johnsson and Pei Taiheng, the original inhabitants of the instance, to Xiang Jianxing and Commissioner Gao and other players—all froze in place, as if time had halted.

Except Wu Chang.

Wu Chang opened his personal space, and the faintly glowing Omniscient Crystal floated out.

It hovered before the tablet; the prophetic tablet turned entirely to powder and merged into the Omniscient Crystal.

The prophetic tablet was precisely what the Omniscient Crystal craved.

As the prophetic tablet merged into it, the Omniscient Crystal emitted a faint glow, gaining a touch of sentience.

Item Name: Omniscient Crystal

Item Type: Unknown

Item Level: Unknown

Item Effect: Revelation

Skill Description: The Omniscient Crystal randomly provides revelations related to the answer you crave.

The Omniscient Crystal flickered twice, then flew back into Wu Chang's hand from above the tablet.

Wu Chang looked around at the frozen world and asked: "Did you do this?"

Perhaps because it had absorbed what it desired, the Omniscient Crystal did not require soul-binding—but it answered Wu Chang's question.

"No. What triggered this is the debris left after the plane's shattering."

Plane's shattering debris—Wu Chang thought of the shattered prophetic tablet. "You mean the original Shivering Ice Plain plane has already shattered due to the World's Will?"

Omniscient Crystal: "Yes."

Wu Chang's gaze turned strange. Had the scenes he saw through Tian Hongzhi's resentment not been illusions—but actual events?

If so, then what exactly is Night Island, where we are now?

Sensing the question in Wu Chang's heart, the Omniscient Crystal answered:

"This region has only been temporarily split off, not truly independent. When the original plane shatters, the split sub-planes will also shatter along with it, leaving behind only a portion of their projection."

"Everything you have experienced is merely a projection of events that once occurred."

Wu Chang pressed on: "But according to the rules of the Abyss Game, only real instances become eroded instances. Can projected instances also erode reality?"

The Omniscient Crystal: "When certain conditions are met, this special type of projected instance can also erode reality."

Wu Chang asked: "What conditions?"

The Omniscient Crystal: "The real world you are in has already been excessively eroded and is merging into the Abyss Game."

(End of this chapter)